M8 and M20 Region
Copyright 2001 Hap Griffin
This photograph shows a portion of the southern Milky Way, just northwest of the Sagittarius "Teapot". The background appears to be murky, but this is simply the combined light of millions of stars shining through great clouds of interstellar gas near our galaxy's core. The most conspicuous objects are M8, the Lagoon Nebula in the lower half of the picture and M20, the Trifid nebula to its north. These are both areas of active star birth. A cluster of young stars, NGC 6530, can be seen in M8 still in their "cocoon".
To get a wider perspective of this area click here. Close-up shots of M8 and M20 can be found elsewhere in this gallery.
Date/Location:
August 21, 2001 Griffin/Hunter
Observatory Bethune, SC
Instrument: Nikon FM w/ 200mmTokina zoom lens @ 200mm
Focal Ratio: f4
Guiding: Manual through LX-200, camera piggyback
Conditions: Visually clear, but with moderate high level water
vapor
Weather: 70 F, Still wind
Film: Kodak Elite Chrome 200
Exposure: 1 x 30 minutes
Filters: None
Processing: Finished in Photoshop 5